I was pretty relaxed during my last visit to hairdresser. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t see much without glasses anyway, spent the styling time thinking about writing the next blog post. Not even for an instant I was worried about the haircut. The hairdresser was a known person, an expert, knew his tricks and knew what I expected. What else does a client want?
Right, satisfaction EVERY TIME.
He finished my styling; I concluded my thoughts for the next post. I was so sure of the outcome that I didn’t bother to look closely in the mirror and went to the counter to pay. But it shocked me when I saw my reflection in the mirror behind the checkout counter. The haircut was actually nothing like I expected. Instead of backward hair with no parting, he styled it as detached hair, backward but detached somewhere between the side and the middle.
I was stunned, confronted him, and he replied, “You said that, sir”.
And then I said nothing more, because the damage was done. But I knew next time I wouldn’t take it so lightly and would be more careful when giving instructions.
What do you think happened? Obviously he didn’t cut the hair as expected, but the bigger issue is that he lost my confidence in his abilities.
This act of hair styling is a process for the barber’s business.
(A process is when a series of inputs/activities work together to achieve a desired result. Here the inputs are scissor, water, comb, my hair, barber's skill, and output is my styled hair)
But this business process was not consistent, it did not produce the same result every time. The process was not mature.
Simply put, process maturity means that the process always delivers the same result that was promised to the customer.
One such incident, and you lose the trust that was built over several successful services. Needless to say, retaining your customers is one of the most important aspects, hence process maturity.
How do you ensure Business Process-Maturity?
1) Make sure the process input is correct, e.g. - Above, process input is scissors, water, comb. Check that the scissors are sharpened as required.
2) Validate the end product with the customer’s expectations.
3) Have your process audited from time to time by someone who knows more about the process than you do. Your business advisors or consultants can help you find such people.
4) Never ignore a customer complaint,and make sure you take action to improve your process.
5) Monitor your performance against relevant parameters.
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